Oditio's Price
The card's had been going my way all night. I may have helped them a little, but everyone in those places cheat, so you have to to keep the game even. I sat down with a handful of copper hilts and two silver moons, but i had built a little fortress of gold around my cards - talons and crowns and suns, whatever people had scraped together.
The card's hit for me once more. I'd saved the two tens, and just pulled another. I could dump the worthless two in exchange for the Queen I kept up my sleeve, and pure Tocala. There was enough in this one hand to get him through two months of living well. I swapped the cards, and slow played the bet. The halfing sitting across from me was trying to stare me down. He'd been losing to me all night - he'd take a few small ones, but he lost the big ones to me over and over. He had one stack of coins in front of him, and he was shuffling them over and over. The bet came to him, and he kept his eyes on me and said he was all in.
I watched his throw in the coins, and my blood froze. Two golden coins, three silver, and seventeen copper. Oditio's Price. Swallowing hard, I swapped the card back. It could be coincidence, or it could be the halfling knew what it meant and was using my fear to take the hand. But if it's real...
I lost the hand. I lost several more that night, and ended up busted out. As I left, the halfling handed me a stack of gold, silver, and copper. I guess I came out ahead that night with Odicio's Price in my pocket, but I haven't played well since.
Significance
Oditio's Eye Upon You
Paying, or accepting, Oditio's price will bring the eye of Oditio upon you. Unknowingly doing so will not have much of an effect - a minor imp or the like might check in, but they won't pursue anything. Repeatedly offering or accepting in ignorance will eventually bring an imp to explain things.
Knowingly offering or accepting the price gives Oditio a way to latch on to a being. Oditio will always be able to identify the location of the person, and will attempt to bring them into the fold. If the person will not worship Oditio, there will be a punishment - the amount determined by how, and how often, the price was used.
Oditio's Price is often used to identify followers of Oditio to each other when they first meet. Offering the Price will signal that the person is affiliated with the Order of Oditio, which could result in different treatment. The price is the vig on any 100 gp loan from the order, it is the price of attending a ritual in a Temple of Oditio, and it's the expected tithe from followers, with the frequency of the tithe changing based on the circumstances of the devotee.
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